Site of the Gleaners who think the universe is a spherical surface
in at least four-dimensional space
1. Historical first meeting of the Gleaners: A simple reason why
the universe seems to be closed
Glass Snake:
Hello! My name as a Gleaner is Glass Snake. Gleaners are those who think the
universe is closed. If it is closed, it is a spherical surface. Because the
universe has three distance dimensions and one time dimension (distances and
time cannot be separated completely from each other by the theory of
relativity), it is a spherical surface in (at least) four-dimensional space.
You might think that the experts have been studying such a subject and
we don't need to think about the universe. However, the experts are afraid
of damaging their careers, so they dare not announce that the universe
is closed. Thus Gleaners need to do the work.
Robot: Yes, you
have completely nothing to lose.
Glass Snake: It's none of your business. First of all I'd like to suggest that we call
the members of the Gleaners after the Chinese ancient astrological calendar.
For example, I was born in 1953 or 1965(the snake year in the calendar)
and I wear glasses for near sight, so my name is Glass Snake, i.e. G. Snake.
Puzzle Sheep: Hi! My name as a Gleaner is Puzzle Sheep. For I was born in 1955, 1967,
or 1979(the sheep year) and I enjoy solving number puzzles.
Stamp Pony: How are you? I was born in 1990(the horse year) and my hobby is collecting
used stamps, so I'm Stamp Pony.
Robot: Good afternoon, every android! I'm an assistant robot. I was manufactured
in 2006(the dog year) and I prefer machine oil to electricity. I regenerate wearing machine oil No. 5 every night, so if you could call me Oil Doberman.
All: A very
fascinating name!
Glass Snake: O.
K. Then c, Robot, name
the subject of this meeting.
Robot: Logic doesn't care as Gene Roddenberry said. Dr. Shiraishi
programmed me less emotional than HAL 9000 used in the movie e2001: A Space
Odysseyf.
The
subject of this meeting is to discuss the reason why the universe seems to be
closed.
Glass Snake: A
very direct and simple reason is that the density of stars, those observed in
the night sky on the earth, is almost completely uniform in all directions
(isotropic). If the universe is open as shown in Fig. 1, then since it is
naturally supposed that the earth is not at the center of the universe, the
density of stars in direction D12 is more dens than that in direction D11. But
the density is uniform, so the universe is closed as shown in Fig. 2. Since the
closed universe is the surface S of a sphere in a three-dimensional
representation, the density of stars in all directions including directions
D21, D22, and D23 are almost the same.
Puzzle Sheep:
Is that all?
Stamp Pony: As humans have been watching stars in the night sky for a very long time,
it seems to me that they haven't paid much attention to the isotropic nature
of the star density.
Glass Snake:
But, if we suppose that the universe is open, how do you explain on the
isotropic nature?
Puzzle Sheep:
It will be possible to explain why the density is isotropic using some open
universe model, but we have to create a very complicated theory like the
geocentric theory, i.e. Ptolemaic theory.
Stamp Pony: If
we have created such a theory, we will have to amend the theory each time when
a contradiction between the theory and the observation is discovered.
Robot: Our
theory is as simple as the heliocentric theory, i.e. Copernican theory.
Glass Snake:
Using the supposition that the universe is closed, as will be shown in the
following meetings, we can understand why the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is so isotropic, and we may possibly deny the
acceleration of the expansion speed of the universe. I hope these discussions
will help other people support our theory.
Although
the universe is (at least) four dimensional, the conventional world that we can
observe is three dimensional, and a projection of a spherical surface in a
four-dimensional space into the conventional world is a sphere.
Stamp Pony: It seems to me that whether the universe is closed doesnft concern our
everyday life at all.
Glass Snake: On the contrary, the fate of the earth totally depends on our work. What
if, tomorrow or some day in the near future a highly advanced alien space
ship arrives at an orbit around the earth, and the aliens announce eWe
are from the other side of the galaxy, and we shall ask a question to the
residents of the earth. If the answer is wrong, we shall destroy the earth.
The question is, of course, if the universe is closed or not?f
Robot: I shall
ask you to close the first meeting now.
All: We are
those who live on a spherical surface, that is, we are spherical-surfacelings!
We
are the Gleaners!
Robot: In
Russian accent!
All: Allo, we are Gleaners!
Robot: In
Japanese accent!
All: Gokigenyo, we are the Greeners!
Robot: You, self-righteous spherical-surfacelings! Dismissed!
A narrow and maybe insecure path to the Gleaners:
(Mail to: o-pat-consulting@hotmail.co.jp)
2. Historical second meeting of the Gleaners
(A reason why the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
is so isotropic)
3. Historical third meeting of the Gleaners
(The expansion speed of the universe is probably not accelerated)
4. Historical fourth meeting of the Gleaners
(A direct method of confirming that the universe is closed, but c)
5. Historical maybe last meeting of the Gleaners
(The Doppler shift pattern in the closed universe
---
It might have been proved already)
6. A mathematical formulation of the closed universe model (Appendix)
7. An explanation on the variation of the Hubble constant (A spin-off meeting)